


Anchor Break

by Elvent



Category: Shiki (Anime & Manga), Shiki - Ono Fuyumi
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, It's like the usual Sotoba except it takes place in a setting more like Seishin's Shiki writing, Multi, a little bit of supernatural and magic, all the characters - Freeform, go read the novel, inspired by Seishin's writings, or the typical Shiki but also different, question everything and your life, this fandom is dying and I'm not ready to move on yet, this is the equivalent of me trying to revive a corpse, whole lot of questioning, will be tagging relationships as they appear
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-09-05 14:15:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16812301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elvent/pseuds/Elvent
Summary: This is the beginning of an end, but it has in fact predated much longer before this.(A man who wants to find a God he cannot live without, who questions whether such God actually exists; another man who could not care less about God, living only for what he could readily see; a boy who only wants to go back home; a girl who could no longer see God. Somewhat a fantasy-supernatural retelling of Shiki but with obvious differences, different focus, different cracks, different cliffhangers. But there will always be something dying.)





	Anchor Break

Faith was alive. In a land such as this, faith was built and maintained into people’s bosoms, contained within the smoke of an offered incense. There, people would come and pray for an abundance of blessing – sun that had just enough warmth, soil that would prosper everything cultivated there, wind that swayed the greenery in the lowland just gently, gently; rain that would neither be too scarce nor flood. A kinder, better today. A blessed journey in this land and in the next.

The center of this land was but the highest peak where God resided, the temple that was built for God, surrounding God. It wasn’t as much a house of worship then – a temple built like a maze, layered with multiple charmed doors only priests who served in the temple could trespass. Even then the highest of priest could only reach the inner door, there to offer incenses in the altar. Beyond that was a place no being had ever stepped into.

A glow in the highest peak denoted God’s providence. However, the heart of the temple was sealed off. It was better described as a wall, not a door, as there could never be any invitation for anyone to go in. God had never wished to meet them beyond a few interactions; but likewise, people had never wished to meet God.

As a young child Seishin had once wondered if God was perhaps malevolent in nature and power. After all, that had to be the reason why the maze was built around God, and the multiple, heavy doors that wouldn’t budge when his small body pushed at them. He’d asked once why would people lock a God in even as they worshipped God, a temple like a prison.

Not like that, the priest had said. This is God’s residence, this is God’s castle. Surely, with our flawed nature we don’t deserve to stand in God’s presence.

But God would’ve had known that we were flawed, Seishin had thought. After all, God created people. A parent would feel lonely if their child refused to see them; so then, wouldn’t God feel lonely if people refused to see God? Surely God wouldn’t reject people for being exactly the way God had intended.

At that age such remark would be described as innocent and childish. The priest had smiled, but still didn’t answer. They ushered him outside: go, go play. Your friends are waiting. Never mind that he knew literally no one outside, so often he was inside pondering what was behind that door.

As an adult he’d come to understand – such was God. Constantly kept at an arm’s length, people would come to bring offerings. When offerings were scarce, a wrathful God would cause a disaster to occur; when offerings were plentiful, God would be satisfied and went on to deep slumber. Pray, ward-off, seal-in. Such was the nature, and value, of God. Such life would be the loneliest he could have had imagined.

Seishin would return often just to traverse through the maze, bringing with him a tray of incense and offerings. Every day, without fail he would see God in the altar. More piously than anyone had been, as the high priest had pointed out. Seishin had smiled at that, but surely anyone had felt loneliness and longing. When you were lonely naturally you would want to reach out. It would be sad indeed to lose that connection, to never have that kind of connection in the first place.

But even in the altar God would not respond to his inquiry. He’d wondered then, if the fault lied somewhere within him. He’d wondered whether there was actually no God in that altar, or that whatever existed there didn’t deserve of the title God.


End file.
